A stethoscope apparatus is used to check whether a status of a patient is normal by listening to a cardiac sound, a respiratory sound, an artery sound, intestine noise, and a vascular sound occurring in a human body. The stethoscope apparatus includes an auscultatory sound receiver, e.g., a diaphragm, for receiving an auscultatory sound from a patient by being in contact with a portion of the body of the patient.
The diaphragm may be easily contaminated by various kinds of viruses or bacteria during a process of being in contact with a plurality of patients and a process of being exposed to the outside for a long time.
In addition, when a temperature of the diaphragm is lower than a body temperature of a patient, the patient may have an unpleasant feeling due to the temperature difference between the diaphragm and the patient when the patient is in contact with the diaphragm.
To solve such a contamination of a diaphragm and such an unpleasant feeling of a patient, a sterilization device for sterilizing a diaphragm and a pre-heating device for pre-heating a diaphragm have been developed. However, since the sterilization device and the pre-heating device are configured separately from a stethoscope apparatus, it is cumbersome that a user should attach these devices to the stethoscope apparatus every time sterilization and pre-heating are necessary. In addition, it is cumbersome that the sterilization device and the pre-heating device should be detached from the stethoscope apparatus when sterilization and pre-heating are not necessary.